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Hilton Debt Tests the Market

Banks That Financed Buyout
By Blackstone Look to Sell;
Complex Deal is a Harbinger

By

Lingling Wei

Updated Feb. 6, 2008 12:01 a.m. ET

In October, private-equity firm Blackstone Group LP pulled off a big coup by closing its $20 billion buyout of Hilton Hotels Corp. in the midst of a near shutdown in the credit markets.

Now the market is watching to see whether the banks that provided the financing for the Blackstone deal will be able to sell the debt -- in what likely would be one of the largest commercial real-estate securitizations ever.